About Me

"An unpopular opinion concerning politics or religion lies concealed in the breast of every man; in many cases not only one sample, but several. The more intelligent the man, the larger the freightage of this kind of opinions he carries, and keeps to himself."--Mark Twain

About this blog

This blog is about my hobby of collecting and smoking pipes. I do not collect the very finest and most expensive pipes. I do not have a large income and I collect the pipes that I can afford. Such is one of the beauties of pipe smoking: there's room for everyone, if you can find your niche.

Friday, August 27, 2010

I have been re-reading a collection of anecdotes recently and have come across a couple of pipe-related anecdotes. I will be filing these under the category of "pipe lore."

At one point in his life, Ralph Waldo Emerson traveled to Europe to meet his poetic idols: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle.

Among the sages who Emerson sought out on his visit to Europe was the notoriously reticent and difficult Thomas Carlyle. He called on Carlyle one evening and was given a pipe, while the host took one himself. They sat together smoking in perfect silence until bedtime, and on parting shook hands most cordially, congratulating each other on the fruitful time they had enjoyed together.